In recent years, customer service personnel have found that providing a customer with a satisfactory experience in an enterprise, such as a commercial establishment, is increasingly difficult. Competition among other establishments, on-line shopping options, and the need for measures to reduce costs result in the need for a commercial enterprise to find an effective and novel way of providing a memorable and positive experience to a customer.
In general, when a customer enters an establishment, the proprietor may not be able to offer differentiated service to each customer. In addition, the proprietor may not be able to sufficiently utilize the queue time, the time between when the customer enters the establishment and the time the customer is assisted by the proprietor or establishment personnel, for each customer to tailor the service to fit the customer's needs, thereby optimizing the experience. For example, if the proprietor does not know when someone enters an establishment or specifics about who has just entered, time may be wasted identifying the presence of a potential customer as well as determining the customer's needs once the customer is assisted by the proprietor. This may result in a significantly diminished customer experience.
Some establishments personalize the customer experience by having customers check-in upon entry. However, this typically involves manual input by the customer. For example, the user may need to run a loyalty card over or through an appropriate reader. Other approaches require the user or establishment personnel to enter identification data for the customer. Check-in theoretically might be automated in response to location detection, for example, using position as determined from global positioning satellite (GPS) signals. However, GPS location determination may not be effective for some commercial establishments, such as stores in an enclosed mall, where GPS signals may be blocked by building structures.
Hence a need exists for an enhanced interaction with a customer to ensure continued patronage of the commercial establishment.